Day in the Life
by E. Nergetic
Summary: Collection of one-shots. Latest update: "Pepperwood" - Nick makes his first pinky promise since grade school.
1. Author's Note and Table of Contents

_Author's note_

I'm trying something a little different here! Basically this is a collection of one-shots inspired by New Girl. Some of them will be AU, some will be in line with canon, but most of them will revolve around the show's canon couples (Nick/Jess and Cece/Schmidt).

As of right now I have no plans to continue anything you will read here, although that might change in the future. I'm definitely open to it if the inspiration comes along!

Disclaimer: I don't own New Girl or any affiliated characters.

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 _Table of Contents_

1\. **Author's note and Table of Contents**

2\. **Pepperwood** (K+) - Nick's first pinky promise since grade school.


	2. Pepperwood

**Day in the Life**

 **Pepperwood**

 **November 28, 2015**

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 _Julius Pepperwood had a bad habit of gritting his teeth while he was working on a case, but not bad in a bad way, bad in a sexy way. On a rainy night in October Pepperwood paced in front of a roaring fire in an abandoned one-room log cabin he'd moved into for his latest case, gritting his teeth so bad you could hear it over the rain. His gaze drifted to the clock mounted to the wall by the door every few moments._

 _"She's late," he grumbled to himself._

 _Not a moment later the door banged open and he could see the familiar silhouette of his partner, Jessica Night, heaving for breath in the doorway. She darted inside and slammed the door behind her, which sent her long brown curly hair flying everywhere._

 _Even in the limited light provided by the fire, Pepperwood could plainly see his partner was shivering and soaked to the bone. "Pepperwood," she gasped as he quickly crossed the hearth and pulled her in for a hug._

" _What happened to you?" He demanded gruffly when he pulled away. He held her at arm's length and inspected her, gaze lingering on her split lower lip and the rips in her shirt over her ribcage on the right side. She was still shivering._

" _The place got overrun, I barely made it out alive," she cried. Pepperwood directed her to a chair pulled out from the table that was back behind him and motioned for her to sit while he went to get her dry clothes and a blanket. "The zombies knew you were planning to check the place out tonight. They tried to ambush me!"_

 _Pepperwood growled and slammed a fist against the side of the wardrobe where Jessica's clothes hung. "Damn zombies," he cursed. "I hate them."_

" _I know you do," Jessica said breathlessly as Pepperwood handed her one of her big soft patterned sweaters and a fresh pair of jeans. "Listen, Pepperwood...as I was running for my life through that old abandoned warehouse, I sort of realized something."_

 _Jessica stood and threw her clothes to the tabletop before jumping up and kissing Pepperwood right on the lips. Pepperwood could taste her metallic blood but that didn't stop him from pulling her closer and kissing her properly, mostly because it reassured him that she was still alive and not some zombie come back to life to attack him. He buried his hand in her hair and smiled a little when he heard Jessica moan._

 _Jessica pulled away and gazed up at him breathlessly through her too-big green eyes. "I know I'm a pain-in-the-ass know-it-all, but...Pepperwood, I love you."_

" _I love you too, Jessica," he whispered. "Call me Julius."_

" _Oh, Julius," she whispered. It was too much for old Julius Pepperwood to handle; he dove down to kiss her again and started stumbling backwards toward the bed_

" _NICK!_ " Schmidt shrieked from the living room. Nick glanced up from his laptop for the first time in an hour and growled at the interruption.

" _What?_ " He shouted back.

"Get in here, _now_!"

With a groan that would put even the scariest zombie to shame, Nick stood and shuffled out of his bedroom into the living room where a livid Schmidt stood, chest heaving, pointing indignantly at an empty beer bottle on the corner of the coffee table.

"How many times do I have to tell you that we do _not_ live in some fraternity _barn house?_ " Schmidt screeched as Nick rolled his eyes. "Your pre-pubescent childish habits have wreaked _havoc_ on this loft for the _last time_ , Nicholas Miller! I will not _have it_ anymore!"

Nick plucked the bottle off the table, only half-listening, and found Jess and Winston hiding in the corner of the kitchen. "That was mine," Jess mouthed when Nick was in view.

He was tempted to turn around and tell Schmidt the truth, but the fear in Jess' wide eyes stopped him. "Sorry, buddy. Won't happen again." Nick said as he dropped Jess' beer bottle into the trashcan.

Schmidt continued his tirade in the living room but Nick shot Jess a reassuring wink, which Winston returned in kind, and Nick turtle-faced because of it. Eventually he rolled his eyes and left Schmidt mid-sentence to lumber back to his room, and two minutes after Schmidt's shouting died down he heard a quiet knock on his closed bedroom door.

"Come in," he said without looking around.

He heard the door open and close. "Sorry," Jess whispered. Nick glanced back, unable to stop himself from grinning. Jess was standing in the midst of his messy bedroom, looking sheepish and embarrassed. "I was up late last night grading papers and I was so frazzled I just forgot a coaster. Thanks for taking the blame."

"No problem, Jess." He said, spinning his chair around to fully face her and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm kinda used to it, anyways."

She smiled ruefully. "Well, either way. I appreciate it." They fell into silence edged with a weird tension he was still trying to get used to. "Are you writing?" Jess asked suddenly.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Nick shifted a little in an attempt to hide the lines of incriminating text with his shoulder.

"Is it more Julius Pepperwood?" Jess asked brightly and excitedly, stepping over piles of dirty laundry to approach Nick's laptop.

"Well, yeah, but it's not finished yet," Nick said defensively, and Jess froze. "I'll, I'll, um...you can read it when it's done."

Jess' hands dropped to her side, disappointment clearly etched across her pretty face. "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

Jess extended her pinky to him. Nick stared at it for a moment before glancing up at her. She was gazing at him earnestly. He chuckled a little at how ridiculous it was but locked his pinky around hers anyways.

"Now you can't break your promise," she said as their hands dropped. Nick nodded, not trusting his voice, and she smiled. "I'll let you get back to it, then. Let me know when you're finished!"

He watched her prance out of his room and sighed, wondering how long it would take to write a more innocent decoy Pepperwood story.


End file.
